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Aug 5, 2008, 1:09 PM
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Castine Classic Yacht Race 2008
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Contact: David Bicks
Castine Yacht Club
207.326.8607
e-mail: dbicks@aol.com
August 4, 2008
DORADE WINS CASTINE CLASSIC RACE CELEBRATING DESIGNER OLIN STEPHENS’ 100TH BIRTHDAY
Castine, Me---Dorade, the famed 52’ yawl designed by Olin Stephens in 1929 when he was 21 years old, led a fleet of 47 boats in the ninth annual Castine Classic Yacht Race to Camden. The race celebrated Stephens’ 100th birthday. Stephens, on board the Race Committee boat, proclaimed Dorade’s victory “the greatest birthday present ever,” according to event chairman David Bicks.
Dorade launched Stephens’ career as the premier yacht designer of the twentieth century. In 1929 he founded Sparkman & Stephens (S&S), which continues today as one of the world’s leading design firms. In 1931, Olin and his brother Rod took the yachting world by storm, sailing Dorade to decisive victories in the transatlantic race from Newport to England, and the Fastnet Race. Upon their return to the United States, the crew of Dorade was honored with a New York ticker-tape parade up Broadway.
Under clear skies and a light southwesterly breeze, the large fleet set sail in five classes from the Castine Harbor bell on a 19.6 nm course ending off Curtis Island in Camden.
Dorade, sailed by Edgar Cato in Classic A, bested Thomas Hills’ 52’ “Q” boat Falcon by almost 10 minutes on corrected time. Falcon, formerly named Hayday, was last year’s winner. Siren, a 45’ New York 32 designed by S&S in 1936 and skippered by Peter Cassidy, took third place.
The Classic B class was led by Rogue, a 40’ Herreshoff design built in 1953 and sailed by Seville Simonds. Aloft, a 40’ Hood sloop skippered by Jack Farrell took second and Bonnie, a 48’ S&S design sailed by Alber Diran took third.
In Classic C, Thora, a Hood designed Little Harbor 36 skippered by Vince Todd, took honors. Arabesque, a 38’ S&S yawl built in 1959 and sailed by Dan Gregorie won second. Third position went to Aegir, a 38’ Alden design sailed by Edith Larsen.
Pleione, a 48’ 8 Meter sloop sailed by Bruce Dyson, took Spirit of Tradition Class honors. Valiant, the 64’ 12 Meter America’s Cup contender designed by S&S and skippered by Gary Gregory, took line honors in the class but was almost three minutes behind the leader on corrected time. White Wings, the 76’ W-76 class sloop designed by Bob Stephens (no relation to Olin) and built by Brooklin Boatyard in 1998, finished third in the class.
A Buzzards Bay 30s/Gaff Class was added to recognize the four Buzzard Bay 30s 47’ sloops, originally built by Herreshoff in 1902. They were recently restored by French & Webb in Belfast, Maine and Darling’s Boatworks in Charlotte, Vermont. A match race amongst the Buzzard Bay 30s (the first in 78 years) was held in Castine on July 30. Mashnee, the Marconi rigged boat sailed by Jan Rozendaal beat the three gaff rigged sloops.
In the Buzzard Bay 30s/Gaff fleet in the Classic race, Joyant, the 58’ Herreshoff gaff rigged sloop built in 1912 and skippered by Bob McNeil, took first, followed by Lady M, skippered by Payson Offield and Young Miss sailed by Victor Paul, both Buzzards Bay 30s.
The inaugural Marblehead to Castine Race, sponsored by the Castine Yacht Club and the Eastern Yacht Club in Marblehead, kicked off the Castine Classic yacht celebration. The 15 boat fleet set sail from Marblehead on July 27 on a 143 nm course across the Gulf of Maine and up Penobscot Bay to Castine. The fleet encountered squalls up to 38 knots and confused seas. The W-76 Wild Horses, skippered by Donald Tofias, took Class A honors, followed by Bruce Dyson’s 8 Meter Pleione and Valiant, skippered by Gary Gregory. Seminole, Elizabeth Meyer’s 47’ Lawley yawl built in 1916, won Class B, followed by the 46’ S&S ketch Mermaid sailed by Brooke Parish and Capella, a 40’ Tripp design skippered by Homer Skinner.
At the awards ceremony at the Wooden Boat School in Brooklin following the Eggemoggin Reach Regatta, David Bicks presented the Ames Cup to Edgar Cato of Dorade as overall winner of the Castine Classic Yacht Race. The Ames Cup honors the memory of Richard Glover Ames and Henry Russell Ames, who were lost at sea on June 19, 1935 south of the Grand Banks, in an unsuccessful effort to save their father who was washed overboard during the Newport to Bergen, Norway yacht race.
Dorade also won the Sparkman & Stephens trophy awarded to the S&S boat with the lowest corrected time.
The Phalarope Trophy was presented to Alex Kuli, skipper of the top Concordia yacht, Absinthe. The Phalarope Trophy honors the memory of Castine sailor Thomas G. Ashton, Sr.
Bob Scott, skipper of the New York 32 Falcon, presented the Mitch Gibbons-Neff trophy (awarded in memory of Mitch Gibbons-Neff, late head of S&S), to Peter Cassidy of Siren, as the top New York 32 in the Penobscot Bay series. Mitch regularly raced on Falcon.
Castine Classic Yacht Race 2008 results: http://www.castineyachtclub.org/Davidsresults08.pdf
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